Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers won’t be involved in the team’s search for a new coach. If Rodgers were, he’d apparently want the interim coach to get the job.
“We want to play for Joe [Philbin] and give him the best opportunity possible,” Rodgers said after Sunday’s overtime win against the Jets, via Jason Wilde of the Wisconsin State Journal. While that’s not quite a “hire this man” endorsement from Rodgers, it’s basically the same message.
Rodgers says the players want to play for Rodgers, and that they want to “give him the best opportunity possible” to get the permanent job. So Rodgers wants the powers-that-be to come to the same conclusion that he, and apparently other teammates, already have reached. Rodgers wants Philbin.
It’s no surprise. Football players are creatures of habit. Rodgers knows Philbin. Rodgers can work with Philbin. A stranger to the organization may do things differently. He may be a guy Rodgers can’t work with. A guy Rodgers ultimately may not like.
So he likes Philbin, and apparently that’s good enough for Rodgers. The question becomes whether it’s good enough for the people who will be making the decision, especially in light of Philbin’s past experience as a head coach, winning 24 of 52 games in three-plus seasons with the Dolphins. Now that Rodgers has made his preference clear, the question becomes whether the Packers would hire Philbin to placate Rodgers -- or hire someone else to spite him.